The watchdog said: "We have told RT that we are minded to consider imposing a statutory sanction. "The broadcaster now has an opportunity to make representations to us, which we will consider before proceeding further."

RT said: "It appears Ofcom has failed to fully take on-board what we said in response to its investigations and, in particular, has not paid due regard to the rights of a broadcaster and the audience.

"We are reviewing the findings Ofcom has put forward and will decide shortly the nature of our next steps."

The seven breaches were from the following news and current affairs programmes:

Sputnik, RT, 17 March 2018, 19:30

News, RT, 18 March 2018, 08:00

Sputnik, RT, 7 April 2018, 19:30

Crosstalk, RT, 13 April 2018, 20:30

Crosstalk, RT, 16 April 2018, 20:30

Crosstalk, RT, 20 April 2018, 08:30

News, RT, 26 April 2018, 08:00

Ofcom added that three further programmes were found not in breach of its impartiality rules.

What is RT?

RT, originally Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), began broadcasting internationally in 2005 in English, Arabic and Spanish as a subsidiary of RIA Novosti, one of three Russian state-owned news broadcasters.

The broadcaster focused on Russia-related news reports and said its goal was to improve the image of the country in the US. At its launch, it promised a "more balanced picture" of what Russia is.

Several years later, it shortened its name to RT and began focusing on US news, positioning itself as an alternative to US mainstream media on both online and US cable television.

The channel's slogan is "Question More", and the network aims to provide its international audience with the Russian viewpoint on global events.

It offers 24-hour-news, broadcasting from Washington, London and Paris. RTDoc, broadcast in English and Russian, is aired from Moscow.